Naples Global Advisors LLC Acquires 40 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Naples Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,042 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Naples Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ninety One North America Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 41.7% in the second quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 64,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,394,000 after acquiring an additional 18,994 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd boosted its stake in Moody’s by 0.8% in the second quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd now owns 18,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,388,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in Moody’s by 1.1% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 837,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $420,067,000 after acquiring an additional 9,172 shares during the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 5.6% in the second quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 644 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group purchased a new position in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at about $212,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total value of $212,749.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,350 shares in the company, valued at $31,451,077.50. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $705,238.38. This represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,812,135. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $479.95 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $504.66 and its 200-day moving average is $481.28. Moody’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market cap of $85.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.42.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.28 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 target price on shares of Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $541.21.

About Moody’s

Moody’s Corporation operates as an integrated risk assessment firm worldwide. It operates in two segments, Moody’s Analytics and Moody’s Investors Services. The Moody’s Analytics segment develops a range of products and services that support the risk management activities of institutional participants in financial markets.